In a beach race, contestants must swim to a point along the beach and then run to reach the ﬁnish line. Where should I aim to land on the beach so as to minimize my total time for the race? Students will explore the solution to this problem using TI-Nspire CAS technology. This problem has a distinctly Australian ﬂavor and has long been popular as an optimization problem involving differential calculus in senior years. Using appropriate technological tools, however, it is also accessible as a valuable algebraic modeling experience for a much wider range of students.

This material is based upon work supported by the
National Science Foundation under Grant DUE-0226284.
Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations
expressed in this material are those of the author(s)
and do not necessarily reflect the views of the
National Science Foundation.